Dirty Dealers

by Tia Louise

  I’m there, I’m clutching the handle, I see it happening…

  Then the world tilts.

  Blix pushes me back and spins me around, jerking my back against his chest and holding me by the throat. I try to scream, but he’s crushing my larynx, forcing my head against his shoulder in the process.

  “Did you think I wouldn’t have you watched?” His other hand rips my shirt up and jerks the punch dagger from its holster. “You fucked Logan Hunt like a cheap whore… And now you’re trying to fuck with me.”

  He pushes the razor-sharp tip against my neck, right at the base of my jaw.

  “No!” I scream, but I can’t move. He’s got me by the throat with the point of my blade cutting into my skin.

  “Tonight I watched you myself,” he hisses in my ear, little drops of spittle landing on my cheek. “I watched him finger-fuck you on that motorcycle. I watched him slam you against the wall like the lying little slut you are. He followed you indoors where I’m sure you sucked him off.”

  My entire body is shaking, and tears are coating my face. “You’re wrong,” I gasp, flailing for anything to get the upper hand again. “He followed me inside, and he told me it was over!”

  His grip on my throat grows tighter and he uses it to jerk my head back against his shoulder, punctuating each word. “Stop. Fucking. Lying!”

  A cough rips through me. My eyes heat and my nose starts to run. “I’m not lying,” I gasp. Oh, God, I’ve got to kill him…

  “You’re not lying?” He mocks me. “Then what the fuck were you planning to do with the knife?” He jams the tip of the blade further into my skin.

  “Ow!” I cry as it pierces my skin. Hot blood runs down my neck, and a violent shudder moves through my torso. “You told me to carry it for self defense!”

  “Bull. Shit.” With a violent push he throws me to the ground.

  My hands flail as I grasp thin air, trying to protect my head from smashing into the concrete. The rest of me hits the floor, and a sharp rock or piece of wood, I can’t tell which, jams painfully into my hip.

  “Oh, god,” I cry, curling into a ball on the filthy marble.

  Blix crosses the space to where I’m lying. I don’t have time to block him before pain explodes through my torso. He kicks me so hard an Oof! flies from my body. I hear the sound of another kick coming just in time to roll, absorbing the force of the blow.

  He takes a step back, and I clutch tighter, waiting for what’s to come, wondering how long I’ll hold up before he kills me. Blix seems to be wondering this as well.

  “What shall I do with you, little bat?” His tone is morphing, turning cruel.

  I’ve heard it so many times, I can still see how his eyes are changing. All humanity is leaving his body, and what’s coming next will make me wish I was never born.

  A hissing noise comes from the area around his waist, and my arms are jerked back, causing me to yelp. Both my hands are in his vice grip and cold rope is looped and tightened around my wrists… tighter, cutting painfully into my skin.

  “You’re something of a special case.” He finishes and shoves me back against the hard floor. I bend my knees and draw them up against my stomach, ducking my head. “What would a blind girl find most terrifying? You’re clearly not afraid of the dark… or of losing your sight.”

  Shudders ripple through my torso, and I couldn’t speak even if I had something to say.

  “Ears…” Blix continues. “Yes… Silence. Darkness. Trapped in the prison of your own body until you die.”

  He leans down and touches my earlobe with his blade. “No!” I jerk, drawing my shoulder up to protect my hearing.

  “Burning oil.” He bends down to speak right at my shoulder. “I’ll slowly fill each one and let it scald away whatever’s left inside your head.”

  Tears flood my eyes, and as much as I don’t want to picture what he’s saying, I can’t escape it. The burning, the silence, the pain. Darkness and no sound… Vomit rises in my throat. Fear beats like a drum loud in my chest. I’m shuddering and crying shaking my head. No… no… NO!

  My hold on reality slips. My breathing is frantic, ragged pants in and out as another second passes… then another. I’m flailing down a spiral of panic and fear and loss and grief… pulling myself together with the last shred of hope, I inhale slowly, then let out a loud scream. “NO!”

  Silence follows the brief echo of my voice.

  The space is empty.

  Far above is the shimmer of rain on the roof. I strain against the rope holding my wrists together, but it’s a waste of time. More silent seconds pass, and I realize… Blix is gone. I’m alone.

  I unclench my eyes and try to see in the darkness. It’s futile, but I’m sure of this one fact. He left me here. But why?

  A drop of water hits my cheek. I’m trembling as I struggle to a sitting position, hands still tied behind my back. I inhale a shuddering breath, my face slick with tears, and I try to figure out what happened. I don’t have to wait long.

  CRASH! The noise from behind makes me scream. I try to turn, when another CRASH! blasts at my left. Glass shatters across the floor. I yelp and struggle away from the noise. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t understand the shouts of male voices surrounding me in this huge, empty space.

  High beams of flashlights streak the darkness, swirling up and over, all around until they land on me.

  “I’ve found one!” A male voice shouts, rapidly closing the distance between us. “Female, blonde, looks early twenties…” He jerks the hat off my head.

  My insides collapse at the voice that joins him. “Stand down, soldier. I’ve got her.”

  “I’m leaving her with Hunt.” The man says, releasing me as he narrates his progress. “I’m moving to the back of the structure.”

  The sound of heavy boots recedes behind us. I’m still on the dirty floor. My hat is gone, my knife is gone. I’m bound. Blood is on my neck, and I’m in Blix’s secret hideout.

  Another crash further away, and more soldiers invade the abandoned villa. They’re moving up and down, searching every inch, but I know they won’t find him. Something or someone tipped him off, and he’s long gone, leaving me to face the consequences of being found here.

  The Whole Truth

  Logan

  My stomach is tight. A tornado of rage and confusion batters my insides, and I’m doing extremely well not to shove my fist through the wall.

  I left Kass at her apartment with a promise not to leave. Now I’m standing here in this crumbling ruin searching for the worst monster I’ve encountered in my career as a guard… and I find her sitting in his lair.

  Did he kidnap her? Did he somehow know we were coming, and he left her here to send me a message?

  I’d like to believe that, but the timeline makes it impossible. She came here on her own. It’s the only explanation. The burning question is why.

  No one knows where this place is. I had returned to the palace to relieve Freddie, and he was with me when Reggie’s email came through. One of his spies had made contact with Taz. They were gambling, drinking, and swapping stories. As with the island where they took Zee, the thug let it slip that “not all abandoned buildings are truly abandoned.”

  It set us off on a desperate hunt, a race against time. It wouldn’t be long before Taz sobered up enough to realize he’d fucked up. Once that happened, it would be seconds before Blix would know we were coming for him. He’d slip through our fingers again, and he’d be more on guard then ever.

  Rowan stayed with Ava, and we called in soldiers to cover him at the palace, then Freddie and I set out with a specialized team trained in search and recovery. We started at an abandoned warehouse near the shipyard. Freddie reasoned they had used cargo ships before, so maybe they would try it again. It was a dead end.

  The Villa Auvergne had been our second stop, and here is Kass; Blix long gone.

  A shudder jerks her small body, but she doesn’t make a sound. She sits completely
still, waiting, her blue eyes staring at the floor in front of her. Her cheeks are slick with tears, and I fight everything in me wanting to comfort her.

  Rain drums harder against the roof, high over our heads. A lone drop of water hits the back of my hand. Another hits her cheek, but she doesn’t brush it away. She sits as if she’s in shock.

  Blood is on her neck, and her hands are bound with that same fucking yellow nylon rope. Blix favors tools you’d find in a tackle box, and the horrific remains of his last victim trickle through my mind. Nylon twine lashed over and over around the victim’s neck. The tips of every finger clipped off with skinning sheers…

  Freddie’s voice breaks my macabre reflection. “It’s completely deserted. He knew we were coming and ran.”

  My eyes remain on the small woman sitting on the floor shivering.

  “He must have left her behind,” Freddie says going to Kass. He pats down her arms before moving to her waist. “What’s this?”

  In one swift move, he whips a holster from her waistband. She flinches back as if he might strike her, but Freddie doesn’t even notice. He’s back with me shining his light on the triangle of leather.

  “Cold steel,” he muses. “It’s the holster for a punch dagger.”

  We both look back at her shivering, eyes fixed on some point on the floor.

  Freddie returns to her, speaking loudly. “What are you doing here?”

  Her eyes slide shut and she shakes her head slowly. A lone tear slides down her damp cheek, and I steel myself. I won’t let it tear me apart.

  “Answer me!” Freddie barks. “Who are you working with?”

  Silence again, the noise of rain. We wait, and I refuse to interrupt this. I won’t act like I know her when clearly I know nothing.

  Another minute passes, and finally she shakes her head slowly. “No one.” Her voice is thick and broken. “I’m a dead girl.”

  Freddie looks at me, but my eyes are fixed on Kass. I hadn’t told any of them about her. I never had a chance. Rowan knows I had a date tonight, but he doesn’t know with whom. Nothing connects me to her. I’m free to walk away and let her face justice.

  My feet move. I’m walking, but I go straight to where she’s sitting, pulling a knife from my pocket as I move. I kneel beside her and grasp the thick rope binding her wrists. Her chin drops, and it takes me a moment to saw through the cords. With a pop, they fall away, and I see the raw marks where they tore into her delicate skin.

  My jaw grinds. I’m angry and confused. Still, I move her hands into her lap. She’s silently crying as I grasp her arms and lift her to her feet. Her knees give out, and I lean down, picking her up. Her face presses against my neck, and I feel her tears on my skin. I pause a moment to breathe through the pain before heading to the broken-down wall where we entered the villa.

  “Let’s go,” I nod as I pass Freddie.

  He’s silently watching the whole thing. “Where?”

  “We’ll take her to Occitan,” I say, stepping over the pile of stones into the darkness and rain. My partner’s right behind me.

  * * *

  Kass sits on a small cot in the service room near the back entrance of the royal family’s ocean estate. I’m not comfortable taking her to the palace, and this is the closest secure area to the villa where we found her. I don’t trust her now. As for the other feelings still alive in my chest, I’ll deal with them later.

  The housekeeper Nesbit brings a bowl of water and a cloth. Freddie leans against the opposite wall, arms crossed, his dark eyes trained on her. I sit in a chair to the side of the narrow cot my fingers steepled at my lips. We wait as the woman dips the cloth in the water and uses it to clean the blood off her neck.

  Freddie breaks the silence. “I’ve alerted Reggie we have a captive. None of his spies have information about a female working with them.”

  “I can confirm she was with them on the flight from Miami.” My voice is level, angry. I watch as Nesbit finishes cleaning the blood then rinses the cloth.

  “How?” Freddie asks.

  I wait for the housekeeper to rise. “If that will be all, sir?” Nesbit asks with a slight bow.

  “For now. Thank you,” I say, and she leaves the room.

  Freddie shuts the door behind her and looks at me, waiting. It’s late, and my eyes are tired. My whole body is tired. The rain has grown stronger, and flashes of lightning are followed by loud peals of thunder.

  With a measured breath, I start the interrogation. “What is your relationship to Blix Ratcliffe?”

  Kass looks down at her wrists, now wrapped in clean white bandages. I’m not sure how much she can see, but the room we’re in is white walls and dark furniture. Freddie is darker than I am, so I’m pretty sure she can at least make out there’s two of us here.

  “Nothing now,” she says in a broken voice. “I’m as good as dead.”

  “Let’s back up to before now.” My voice is sharp. “Tell us why you accompanied him here. What was your assignment?”

  Her eyes slide closed, and again, a tear slips down her cheek. “My assignment was to reconnect with you.”

  Pain slices through me like a knife. Freddie’s eyes dart to mine, but I hold it together. “And once you’d done that?”

  She takes a breath and continues. “Establish a relationship that would compromise your position. At an appointed time I would distract you so his men could kidnap the queen regent.”

  “What the hell?” Freddie pushes off the wall. “This fucker has no idea. There’s no way anyone could compromise Logan…”

  His voice trails off, and I feel his eyes on me. My eyes are on Kass’s wrists, and I can only imagine the pain her words inflicted is all over my face. My armor is down. It was a brilliant plan, and it would have worked perfectly.

  “So what happened?” Freddie says, his voice lower. “What went wrong?”

  Several seconds tick by. I count the drops of rain hitting the window, not sure I want to hear her response to his question.

  “I couldn’t do it.” Her voice cracks. “When he told me it was time, my only choice was to kill him. I was determined to do it… But he’s too strong for me.”

  Freddie walks to the door. “We have this threat neutralized. I’ll call Rowan while you finish up here.”

  He’s gone, and it’s only her, me, and the storm raging outside. I stand and pull the chain on the small lamp on the desk then I go to the door and switch off the stark white light. We’re bathed in a soft, yellow glow.

  I pause before leaving. “Freddie will let you know what the king decides, whether you’ll be detained or… something else.”

  My hand is on the doorknob when she speaks, her voice high and shaky. “I’m so sorry, Logan.”

  The things she said before I left her apartment earlier this evening are in my mind as she finishes.

  “I never wanted to hurt you.”

  At that, something in me clicks. I’m not hurt. I’m destroyed, and I want her to feel the pain she’s caused me. Pushing the door closed, I turn and cross the room to where she sits. Grasping her upper arms, I jerk her off the cot.

  She gasps, and her lips part. Small hands clutch my biceps, and I give her a shake. “Your only choice wasn’t killing him.” Rage seethes through my tone. “Your choice was to trust me.” I give her another shake. “Your choice was to tell me what was happening.”

  Tears streak her cheeks, and she blinks rapidly. “I couldn’t take that chance, not with you.” She hiccups a breath and closes her eyes. “I’ve listened to him with his prisoners. I’ve been outside the door when he tortures them. It’s horrible. I would never let him do that to you. I couldn’t let him hurt you like that.”

  “So you did it yourself.” It’s a statement of fact.

  Her head moves side to side and more tears fall. “No, Logan.”

  My jaw is clenched and my words are a low growl. “Yes, Kass.” I’m still gripping her arms, but she bends her elbows, reaching for me.

  I’m
furious. I’m doing my best to hold a protective shield between her and my heart, and the sight of her pale hand reaching for me splinters it. My hold on her falters, and she moves forward, burying her face in my chest, small hands clutching my shirt. For the space of a heartbeat, I keep my defenses strong. Until I feel her body shudder, and my arms go around her.

  “I’m so sorry.” Her voice is soft, muffled against me, and my arms tighten around her slim body.

  I hold her through the tears. I hold her, allowing the depth of the pain she has inflicted to be soothed momentarily. I drop my face to her hair and inhale deeply the clean, sweet scent of her fragrance. God help me, I’m being torn apart.

  “I can’t let this go.” Forcing my resolve in place, I move her back so I can see her face. “Blix is evil. You worked with him. You were in his inner circle. Are you still?”

  She shakes her head no. “He’ll never trust me again.”

  “How can I ever trust you again?”

  “You can’t.” No irony is in her tone. She’s not pleading or crying. It’s a simple acknowledgment of fact.

  I go to the chair and drop heavily. My fingers scrub my eyes, and I try to make this make sense. “How did this happen? The Kass I knew would never get mixed up with men like this. Shit, you were a fucking virgin. I’m supposed to believe you’ve changed that much?”

  She sits on the cot, and the sadness is back. “A lot can change in a year. A lot can change in less than a year.”

  “It’s time you told me the whole story.”

  She presses her lips together before starting. “In the winter after you left, I was diagnosed with… this blindness. I was devastated. My aunt tried to comfort me, but I wanted to die.”

  Standing, I go to the small desk holding a crystal decanter. I pour us each two fingers of scotch. “Here,” I say, nudging her hand with the tumbler.

  She takes it and lifts it to her nose. “Expensive.”